Most modern vehicles include a combustion engine and a tank for storing fuel to be ignited and burned by the engine. Typically, a fuel sending unit is mounted inside the tank to monitor the amount of fuel in the tank and control the delivery of fuel from the tank to the engine. The fuel sending unit commonly includes a float for measuring the fuel level and a pump for pumping fuel from the tank to the engine.
Occasionally, contaminated fuel is pumped into the tank. Contaminated fuel is fuel which contains debris and/or liquid contaminants such as water. Typically, the debris or liquid contaminants settle on the bottom of the tank. To prevent the debris from damaging the engine, a filter is used to screen the debris prior to entering the fuel combustion system. Although prior art filters catch most debris, they have several shortcomings. Foremost, prior art filters have been positioned on or near the bottom of the tank. As a result, the pump intakes potentially contaminated fuel from the bottom of the tank rather than uncontaminated fuel from the fuel surface. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a filter which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.